On Thursday evening in the San Siro, there were minimal expectations for Celtic.

This was a team taking on one of Europe’s elite sides while on a run of just two wins in their last ten outings.

It was a shock, therefore, when the Hoops took a remarkable 2-0 lead against AC Milan.

Tom Rogic continued his resurgence before Odsonne Edouard caught the eye to double things for Neil Lennon’s side.

Yet, in rather typical circumstances, they let their lead slip and thanks to some truly horrendous defending, they eventually lost 4-2.

It was a defeat, despite the attacking performance, that will have heaped even more pressure upon their frustrated manager.

Whatever he does at the moment, it doesn’t seem to pay off. Just a week on from when Scott Bain let his team down against Sparta Prague, stand-in ‘keeper Vasilis Barkas was also having a shocker.

That being said, the defence in front of him didn’t offer much help – particularly Diego Laxalt.

The Uruguayan has been impressive since signing, so much so that the Bhoys could make his temporary switch permanent. Though, against his parent club on Thursday, he was absolutely shocking at left-back.

He was brutally dominated by Samu Castillejo and Hakan Calhanoglu, being dribbled past on no fewer than three occasions.

Laxalt had a habit of mistiming his passes and on the way to completing just 69%, he lost possession a mighty 20 times.

It was an abysmal performance from a player with plenty of experience at the top level. In a game like this, you’d think the 27-year-old would have something to prove.

That seemed far from the case as he lost 58% of his duels – winning just six of his 17 battles on the ground.

It was an alarming performance from Laxalt who until now has been a relative shoo-in for Lennon on the left-hand side of defence.

This display, however, will surely have raised questions. Of course, it is better to judge his outings in the league but if Celtic want to dig themselves out of their current hole, he will have to improve.

To put it bluntly, this was not good enough.

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